Opinion

‘GREEN AND GOLD’ TAKES ON NEW MEANING. The West Las Vegas High School environmental studies program is right on time. While the entire nation prepares to go greener, teacher Kirk Ludi is getting his students in on the action, by converting a 1970 Porsche into a battery-operated car, creating an electric bicycle and more. These are the kinds of projects that inventive young minds can really wrap themselves around — and they obviously are.

Recently I experienced being hospitalized for the first time in my life, as well as having surgery.

This short note is to praise all the employees at Alta Vista Regional Hospital for their dedication and responsibility to providing good patient care in this community.

The emergency room personnel was exceptional, and I was very impressed with the courteous and sincere performance of the whole staff. We are fortunate to have a group of very committed and compassionate employees at Alta Vista.

I was interested in reading about the San Miguel County attorney’s defense of the Optic — and also slightly uncomfortable.

Although, Mr. Jesus Lopez has every right to voice his support, he does after all, represent a branch of government that the Optic is expected to question with as much enthusiasm as they question any other authority.

The best newspapers are diligent, unbiased, and serve no one but their readers, the general public — not always telling them what they want to hear, but what they need to know.

This letter is in regards to the Optic’s May 15 article, “Spending in Mora Questioned.” It is an absolute embarrassment and disgrace that Mora school employees tastelessly attempted to bribe legislators and board members. While some call the purchases gifts of appreciation, others call it a bribe when it’s purchased with public funds. The crux of the embarrassment is that our state representatives accepted wrongfully purchased leather jackets, beef jerky and empanadas. It’s cheap.

In Edward Albee’s play, “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” George, the host at a late-night party, tells the guests about how faculty wives “gather at the downtown A&P like a bunch of geese.”

The guest “corrects” George by saying the proper term is “a gangle of geese, not a bunch.” Well, the host, played by Richard Burton, points out that if the guest is “going to be cute and ornithological about it,” the correct term is “gaggle, not gangle.”

Earlier this week, state Republican Party chairman Harvey Yates called for the resignation of Rep. Richard Vigil, D-Ribera, the husband of Roberta Vigil. He said Vigil used his position as a state representative to “steer money to his wife, money that she ultimately misspent,” and betrayed the public trust in doing so.

Last week, a jury in Santa Fe delivered a guilty verdict for former West Las Vegas bilingual coordinator Roberta Vigil of fraud and conspiracy. The judge had previously thrown out the case against former West board member Ralph Garcia.

During the last several months there have been many news stories that have cast a dark cloud over Las Vegas. We as a community have taken a beating and need to stand up a support our young community members by acknowledging and focusing on the many positive activities that go on around us. We need to put the bad stuff behind us and call attention to those who have made us proud and focus on what is good about our youth.

We wish public officials would more frequently ask the question, “What if this makes the newspaper?”

It’s likely that Mora school officials didn’t ask this question when they went on a spending spree for legislators. Through a public records request, this newspaper discovered that the district spent thousands of dollars for perks for state legislators and Mora school officials.

The San Miguel County DWI Program would like to thank Pink Carnation Florist owner Patrick Padilla for their help with getting the message out to local students who attended prom. The Pink Carnation Florist placed stickers on flower boxes for prom to remind them to stay sober and safe on prom night.

CONTINUING FORWARD MOMENTUM. The Highlands University Board of Regents and the Faculty Association reached an agreement last week that effectively ends a months-long dispute between the administration and educators. The new contract includes salary increases retroactive to the beginning of this academic year and changes in the school’s grievance, evaluation, promotion and tenure policies.

A lot of improvements have been taking place at Highlands since President Jim Fries took over, so it’s good to see this issue resolved and the momentum continuing.

When I was taking journalism classes at the University of New Mexico, one of the most embarrassing lessons I learned was from a crusty old professor who used to be an editor at a daily paper.

He had been retired from that job for years, but he still embodied what I thought was the typical image of an old school editor. He was slightly rotund, he always wore a starched white shirt with a few ink stains on it, and occasionally a bow tie. His voice was deep and gravelly, like he had spent a couple decades chomping on a cigar.

Over the last few months, San Miguel County has undertaken a diligent effort to revise its ordinance regulating wind farms. To its credit, the county drafted the ordinance six years ago, long before anyone seriously considered wind farms around here.

Last year, when Chicago-based Invenergy presented its idea to have wind turbines in the Bernal area, some residents there expressed concern about noise pollution and the effects on scenery and wildlife. So the county formed a task force.

As we enjoy graduation season, it’s important to recognize the contributions of teachers and principals. Good ones make a big difference.

The Optic’s last Hometown Heroes feature profiled West Las Vegas’ choir director, Arnell David Arellanes, and West High School principal Gene Parson. Arellanes deserves credit for turning around the choir program a few years ago, and he has received solid support from Parson.

These days, Gov. Bill Richardson isn’t doing sitdown interviews with reporters from New Mexico. Since a pay-to-play controversy forced him to decline his nomination as Commerce secretary, Richardson has held just one such interview — with a reporter from the Washington Post.

As an education employee of the state of New Mexico, I have been asked to give up 1.5 percent of my pay for the coming fiscal year. A $400 million shortfall, they tell us. OK. The school district comes to us today, and asks us to give up one day’s pay to help balance the budget here in our district, and keep everybody employed. A $400,000 shortfall, they tell us. OK. We all know state revenue is down. A lot. I guess we all have to do our part, and we know things are much worse in other parts of the country.